When I wrote this book in 1986, I had to argue
long and hard with Springer Verlag to publish it.
They printed a small number of copies, and never
bothered with a second printing, even though,
surprisingly, there seemed to be some continued
demand for the book. I have asked Springer to
print more copies, but they flatly refused, unless
I was willing to publish a second edition with
them in the near future. Burnt once, why would
I trust them with a second edition? Also,
I figured that since Springer had gross income
about 500,000 US dollars from my books with them,
that they would be more generous with their
royalties and more responsive to demands for
second printings. The contrary is true in fact:
royalties are decreasing (they stand now at 7.5%
per book), and I feel that I am just one of the
many academic rape victims.

As the book is out of print, the copyright
and ownership is mine, so I do with it what I want.
On these web pages, you will find a fine
scan of my book in text searchable PDF format (thanks, HK).
This is the original text. A list of errata
is here.

Furthermore, I give anyone the permission, even without
asking me, to take these PDF files to a printer,
print as many copies as you like, and sell them
for profit.
If you would like me to advertise
the sales points of the hard copies, please let me
know.
To the libraries: Please do not
charge patrons for copying this book. I grant everyone
the right to copy at will, for free.

So, there you have it. Eventually, I will do this
with all my books. While I love Springer, my honeymoon
with them is over. I will of course never start any affairs
with the champion bloodsuckers like Elsevier, Kluwer
or Dekker. Outfits I like are SIAM (nonprofit),
Dover (great pricing) and Oxford University Press
(allowing authors to post books on the web).
With the arrival of Amazon, book advertising is no
longer necessary, and one can publish with any
company, really. So, it will be a matter of a few years
before the old publishers will come back to the
academics on their hands and knees asking for
manuscripts. Too late.

The zip file
with all PDF files is provided for your convenience. Below, you
will find a table of contents and an index, both in HTML
format: look for a keyword, note the page number, go
to the right chapter via the table, and you are done.